ATTACHMENTS:

Young Professionals learn new ideas on enhancing Adaptation in the Mountains

Forty-seven young professionals convened at the headquarters of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu, Nepal for the ‘Asia-Pacific Youth Forum and Training Workshop 2014: Adaptation in the Mountains: Issues and Gaps beyond Boundaries’. Young professionals came from 17 countries in the Asia-Pacific Region and represented diverse sectors, including government, media, research, academia, and civil society. During the four-day event, participants interacted with high-level bureaucrats, youth leaders, researchers, thought process leaders, and tech innovators from the region. They discussed climate change from multiple perspectives, relating it to government policy, civil society, and international instruments such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They gained first-hand knowledge about ICIMOD’s current research on climate change adaptation and observed green technologies housed at the ICIMOD Knowledge Park at Godavari. In addition, they visited the nearby Kavre District to observe local adaptation measures for water conservation in the middle hills, where ICIMOD is conducting action research in collaboration with the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation (NWCF) under its Koshi Basin Programme. The Asia Pacific Youth Forum was organized by ICIMOD through its Asia Pacific Mountain Network (APMN), in partnership with the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN). Initiated in 2010, ICIMOD’s youth forums bring young professionals from mountainous countries together to discuss policy needs and, thus, influence the Mountain Agenda at the global level.

Around 90 per cent of almost a billion mountain people in the world today live in developing and transitioning countries, such as those in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region. Many live in poverty, and a third of mountain dwelle...

Adaptation has been viewed from various angles over time. Different definitions carry with them different emphases. The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) defines adaptation as the “adjustment in natural or human systems in respo...